A global campaign in support of captive Palestinians has urged the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to immediately resume independent visits to Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, warning that Israel has yet to implement a Supreme Court ruling overturning its ban on humanitarian access.
The Red Ribbon campaign emerged last year as people started wearning red ribbons in support of Palestinian captives held in Israeli prisons at protests from New York to London.
In a statement, it called on the ICRC to “take immediate humanitarian action to ensure the practical implementation of the Israeli Supreme Court’s ruling of 3 June 2026, which revoked the blanket prohibition on ICRC visits to Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli custody.”
An open letter sent last week also urged the Red Cross to “restore regular, meaningful and independent access to Palestinian hostages and prisoners in accordance with international humanitarian law and the ICRC’s own established standards for detention visits.”
Israel’s Supreme Court unanimously struck down the ban on 3 June, ruling that the government had violated Israeli and international law and failed to provide a legal basis for blocking visits since October 2023.
Rather than fully comply, the Israel Prison Service has imposed restrictions that effectively gut the ruling.
The rules bar visits to several categories of detainees, limit the ICRC to one visit every three months, and allow it to request meetings with no more than five prisoners.
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Meetings can last only 30 minutes, while prison commanders can end them early.
Dr Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, said: “The continued denial of humanitarian visits and independent international monitoring for Palestinian prisoners constitutes a serious violation of the most fundamental humanitarian and legal standards that should apply equally to all prisoners and detainees without exception.”
Adnan Hmidan, UK-based coordinator of the Red Ribbons Campaign, said: “No Palestinian hostage or prisoner should be left beyond the reach of humanitarian protection or hidden from independent scrutiny.”
On 30 June, the ICRC said it was ready to restart visits but had received no date for access.
Palestinian prisoner organisations put the prison population at more than 9,600 at the start of April, including more than 3,532 people held in administrative detention without charge or trial.
They also recorded about 350 children and 86 women in custody.
Rights groups and former detainees have documented torture, starvation, sexual violence and denial of medical care inside Israeli detention facilities, where the absence of independent monitors has allowed abuse to continue behind closed doors.
